Community Forums

Douglass · 03-02-2008, 02:38 PM

We're taking our newbie selves and fiver to the area west of Austin in a few weeks - most of the State parks seem to be filled up. Any suggestions for a "near state park like" facility we should check out?

Douglass · 03-02-2008, 02:38 PM

We're taking our newbie selves and fiver to the area west of Austin in a few weeks - most of the State parks seem to be filled up. Any suggestions for a "near state park like" facility we should check out?

jperry29 · 03-02-2008, 05:04 PM

Douglass,

Try this:
Go to www.reserveamerica.com. On that website you can do a general search. Under "Find Campgrounds" just tell it what kind of campsite you want and then put in the name of a town near where you want to camp. Then put in the date range you want, the number of nights you want to stay and hit the "Search Campgrounds" button.

It will return a list of campgrounds that meet your criteria (and are in the Reserve America System). You will get state parks, corp of engineers (listed as Federal) and private campgrounds. Each one will list the distance, in miles, from the town you said you wanted to be near.

It is a pretty good tool for casting a wide net for campgrounds that might be what you need during the time you want.

Just for grins I went specifically to Inks lake just to see how booked up they were. We have stayed there and I know you need to plan ahead but I was shocked to find that there were no 5 consecutive nights available through March of 2009!

I then did the search as I described above and found 45 possible alternatives. Granted, some were 195 miles away, but they were available.

paz · 03-03-2008, 03:31 AM

Douglass, welcome to iRV2.

We stayed about 80 or 90 miles west of Austin last April at Kerrville-Schreiner Park in Kerrville, TX. The cost was $15 a night for full hook-ups. The park used to be a state park that is now operated by the city. There are 2 camping areas - one near the office down by the Guadalupe River and the other across the road up on the hill. We liked the area across the road because it seemed quieter with more wildlife.

We also stayed in Fredricksburg at Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park. It was a little closer to things we wanted to see, but it was more expensive at $22 a night and not nearly as nice as Kerrville-Schreiner. There were side by side hook-ups with sites very close together.

Have a great trip! Texas Hill Country is beautiful in the spring.

Matt Cassels · 03-03-2008, 04:56 AM

Texas Hill Country!
Our absolutely most favorite place to hang our hat is Buckhorn Lake Resort in Kerrville.
We are hooked big time on the Hill Country, does it show

Douglass · 03-03-2008, 04:58 AM

Jperry29, thank for the hint on the reserveamerica tool - I'll check it out!

Paz, Kerrville-Schreiner sounds like a nice spot to look into.

Thanks very much for these suggestions - wish us luck!

calico9999 · 03-04-2008, 06:34 PM

We live in the Texas Hill Country; both of the above are excellent choices!

Our personal favorite is:
http://www.lakemedinarvresort.net/

Really nice owners. lots of trees, right on the lake, lots of deer and other wildlife......... Boerne, Bandera, Kerrville, Fredricksburg and San Antone all in easy driving distance.

Cali

Brinson · 03-11-2008, 05:21 PM

Douglass, another really nice state park is South Llano River State Park near Junction. Lots of deer,wild turkey everywhere,a beautiful blue-green river,the park is small probably about 50-60 sites. There is also a private campground next door to this park but, I have not stayed there.

6x5er · 03-16-2008, 07:46 AM

South Llano is one of our favorites. Guadalupe State Park, Perdenales State Park, Inks Lake and Bastrop State Parks are also nice parks around the Austin area.